The best thing about AI’s rapid growth is that competitors keep raising the bar.
Every new AI model pushes the limits, giving users better options and keeping businesses, CEOs, and investors on their toes.
DeepSeek AI is a prime example. Unlike ChatGPT and other large language models, which thrive on monthly subscription fees, DeepSeek AI offers its core models as free, open-source alternatives that challenge the traditional AI revenue model. DeepSeek AI also boasts lower memory usage, reducing the cost of running AI tasks—something business professionals and data analysts appreciate.
While DeepSeek offers strong reasoning and cost-effective access, the concerns around data security, reliability, censorship, and feature limitations drive users toward more transparent, secure, and versatile alternatives that are just as efficient (and won’t burn a hole in your wallet).
Here’s a list of the best DeepSeek AI alternatives you can try out to boost productivity with AI.
- So, Why Look for an Alternative to DeepSeek AI?
- Top DeepSeek Alternatives at a Glance
- The 11 Best DeepSeek Alternatives to Use
- How we review software at ClickUp
- 1. ClickUp (Best for AI-powered project management and knowledge management)
- 2. Google Gemini (Best for AI-powered workflow automation and content generation)
- 3. Perplexity AI (Best for AI-powered search and research insights)
- 4. ChatGPT (Best for AI-driven project assistance and automation)
- 5. Meta LLaMa 3 (Best for open-source AI development and experimentation)
- 6. Claude AI (Best for programming assistance and idea exploration)
- 7. Qwen 2.5 (Best for cost-effective AI coding and automation)
- 8. Elicit AI (Best for AI-powered academic research and literature reviews)
- 9. Hugging Face Transformers (Best for machine learning and NLP model deployment)
- 10. Mistral AI (Best for building custom AI apps with open-weight models)
- 11. Poe (Best for experimenting with multiple LLMs)
- Final Verdict: DeepSeek-ing a Better Option? ClickUp’s Happy to Help
Summarize this article for me pleaseSo, Why Look for an Alternative to DeepSeek AI?
DeepSeek’s AI capabilities have made waves, but if we go through user reviews, we will begin to find many flaws. Here are the biggest challenges that make people reconsider:
1. Server issues: When “free” means “unavailable” 😥
DeepSeek AI might be open source and cost-effective, but if you’ve ever tried using it during peak hours, you know the struggle. Many users report frequent server downtime and sluggish response times.
2. Privacy concerns: Who’s watching? 👀
DeepSeek AI has sparked concerns over data security and ethical AI practices. Researchers from Cisco, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cybersecurity firms found that DeepSeek fails nearly all jailbreak and prompt-injection tests. In one study, 100% of malicious attempts bypassed guardrails.
Due to its security vulnerabilities, businesses handling sensitive customer data or proprietary information may hesitate before integrating it into their workflows.
3. Limited API access: Paywalls lurking in the shadows 👤
Sure, the web chatbot is free, but API key access? Not so much. If you’re a developer using DeepSeek for AI-powered automation, software development, or conversational AI, expect to hit a paywall quickly.
4. Performance gaps: Impressive but not unmatched 📉
While DeepSeek excels in cost efficiency, it still lags behind premium AI tools like OpenAI’s latest large language models when it comes to advanced reasoning and optimal performance. Users also report subpar performance in languages beyond Chinese and English, making it ineffective for multilingual tasks.
💡 Pro Tip: Want to make your AI smarter, faster, and more efficient? LLM agents can automate workflows, enhance decision-making, and personalize user experiences.
5. Hardware dependencies: Not everyone has a supercomputer 🧑💻
Yes, DeepSeek AI is open source, meaning you can run it locally—if you have a high-end GPU farm. Otherwise, you’re stuck with the web version, which, as we mentioned, is often down or rate-limited compared to other AI tools.
🧠 Fun Fact: John McCarthy coined the term “artificial intelligence” in 1956 and drove the development of the first AI programming language, LISP, in the 1960s. Early AI systems were rule-centric, which led to the development of more complex systems in the 1970s and 1980s, along with a boost in funding.
Summarize this article for me pleaseTop DeepSeek Alternatives at a Glance
| Tool | Key features | Best for | Pricing* |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClickUp | AI-powered project and knowledge management; Docs, tasks, standups, Connected Search, automations, multiple AI model access (Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek) | Small to enterprise teams managing work, content, and automation in one platform | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $7/user/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Google Gemini | Integrated with Google Workspace; generates summaries, visuals, action items; multimodal (text, image, audio, video) | Individuals to small teams working within Google Workspace needing automation and summarization | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $24/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Perplexity AI | AI-powered search with citations; real-time web data; Pro Search with follow-ups; supports multiple LLMs | Individuals, researchers, or small teams needing fast, transparent research | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $20/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| ChatGPT | GPT-4 model access, code/data analysis, custom GPTs, plugin support; document summaries and task generation | Individuals to enterprise teams using AI for content, coding, brainstorming, and workflows | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $20/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Meta LLaMa 3 | Open-source LLMs (7B–70B), high customizability, deployable on-prem/cloud, GQA + token compression | Research labs, AI-first startups, and enterprise teams with ML expertise | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $14.99/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Claude AI | Long-context memory (200K+ words), ethical AI alignment, structured summaries, image/chart interpretation | Small to enterprise teams handling large documents, compliance, or safety-focused applications | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $20/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Qwen 2.5 | High coding accuracy (92.7% HumanEval), open-source flexibility, multilingual support (29+ languages), 128K token context | Individual developers and AI teams needing low-cost, regional model experimentation | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $0.38/million tokens; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Elicit AI | Academic research automation; 125M+ paper database; summaries, syntheses, structured extraction | Individual researchers and academic teams doing literature reviews or hypothesis generation | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $12/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Hugging Face Transformers | Open-source platform for sharing/training NLP models; supports PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX; Inference Endpoints | Developers and ML teams building and deploying custom NLP/vision models | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $9/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Mistral AI | Open-weight models (e.g., Mistral-7B), private/self-hosted deployment, fast inference, commercial licensing | AI infra teams and privacy-conscious orgs building local/custom AI apps | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $14.99/month; Custom pricing for enterprises |
| Poe | Unified interface to GPT-4, Claude, LLaMA, etc.; create custom bots; mobile/web access; multilingual support | Individuals, solopreneurs, and hobbyists experimenting with multiple AI models | Free; Paid plans start at $4.99/month |
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 11 Best DeepSeek Alternatives to Use
How we review software at ClickUp
Our editorial team follows a transparent, research-backed, and vendor-neutral process, so you can trust that our recommendations are based on real product value.
Here’s a detailed rundown of how we review software at ClickUp.
DeepSeek AI might not be your cup of tea, and that’s okay.
Whether it’s server downtime, privacy concerns, or the urge to try something new, plenty of DeepSeek AI alternatives can match—or even outperform it. Here’s a curated list:
1. ClickUp (Best for AI-powered project management and knowledge management)
ClickUp is the everything app for work—a single platform where project management, documents, and team communication collide with next-gen AI automation and search capabilities.
It’s not just us saying this. Anders E., a ClickUp user, says:
ClickUp Brain
If you’re seeking a DeepSeek alternative that truly understands your work, ClickUp Brain is a game‑changer. Unlike standalone AI tools, Brain is built right into your workspace, accessing tasks, docs, chats, meetings—and even your connected apps like Slack, Google Drive, Notion, and more.
With Brain you can write briefs in ClickUp Docs, generate images that match your brand, and create tasks and subtasks automatically from a single prompt—no need to juggle tools. Kick off your day with AI StandUps, powered by real updates pulled from active tasks, while AI Fields auto‑fill task metadata so nothing falls through the cracks. Add AI Cards in ClickUp Dashboards to spotlight projects and priorities at a glance.
🚀 Here’s more about what ClickUp Brain does for you:
- Automatic summaries = less reading, more doing: Workplace content is overwhelming, and no one wants to scroll through mile-long task threads. ClickUp Brain summarizes long emails, project updates, and meeting notes
- Personal standups, minus the meetings: AI StandUp generates bite-sized status updates so teams can stay aligned without unnecessary syncs
- Emails, marketing collaterals, and content: Brain writes excellent marketing copy, from emails to presentation content to social media posts, when you get stuck
- Natural language automations: ClickUp takes automation to the next level by letting users create workflows just by describing them in plain English
💡 Pro Tip: Toggle between the latest AI models—from ChatGPT and Claude to Gemini and DeepSeek—with ClickUp Brain! Yes, it’s all accessible right within your ClickUp workspace or the Brain MAX app. You can also use Voice-to-text in the Brain MAX app to execute 4x faster!
ClickUp Knowledge Management
One of the biggest reasons business professionals, project managers, and data analysts love ClickUp is its effortless ability to centralize information.
ClickUp’s AI Knowledge Management feature makes real-time information retrieval effortless by pulling relevant information from tasks, comments, docs, and wikis instantly. Say goodbye to endless context-hunting!
🚀 Here’s how it helps:
- Import team knowledge: Securely import Docs and knowledge from any tool
- Use Wiki templates: Speed up your team’s work with a bunch of wiki templates, which include live editing and integrated comments
- Advanced permissions: Maintain control of your knowledge with comprehensive permissions and version history
ClickUp Connected Search
However, ClickUp’s knowledge management capabilities are incomplete without the ClickUp Connected Search feature.
If you’re deep in a critical project and suddenly need a document from two months ago that you barely remember, ClickUp’s Connected Search will surface it in seconds. If this were buried in Slack or lost in an email thread, you’d either spend hours searching or end up asking a coworker to resend it.
Connected Search scans all your integrated apps, from Google Drive to Jira and Salesforce, bringing you the right information in seconds. With these features, ClickUp offers an organized, accessible, and useful workspace.
ClickUp Autopilot Agents
ClickUp’s native AI also replaces repetitive busywork with Autopilot Agents—AI-powered workflows that handle task creation, routing, status changes, and more, so you don’t have to. Choose from Prebuilt Agents or create Custom Agents that help you get more done in less time.
Ideal for
Team size
Small teams of 5-20, growing startups, mid-sized companies, or enterprise-level organizations
Who is ClickUp a good fit for?
Teams of all sizes managing projects that range in size and complexity and require cross-functional collaboration
Features
- AI-powered knowledge management: Get intelligent searches, automated summaries, and real-time AI-powered insights with ClickUp Brain
- Connected Search for unified access: Search across Google Drive, Slack, Jira, Salesforce, and other integrated tools to instantly find what you need
- Real-time collaboration: Edit on ClickUp Docs, assign tasks, and communicate with your team in one place without switching between apps
- Automated workflows and task prioritization: Use AI-powered automation to update statuses, assign tasks, and organize work based on urgency
- Highly customizable workspace: Personalize ClickUp to your specific project management needs with flexible categories, tags, and dashboards
Pros
- Generate ideas, write-ups, documentation, and even images with AI in one workspace
- Prioritize work, assign tasks to the right team member, and track updates automatically with AI Fields and standups
- Build natural language automations powered by AI
- Schedule meetings and work easily with ClickUp’s AI Calendar
- Access multiple advanced AI models—including Claude, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and more—in one app, at a fraction of the cost
Cons
- The extensive features and customization options can take time to configure and master
- ClickUp Brain is only available on a limited free trial or with paid plans
Integrates with and doesn’t integrate with
Pricing
free forever
Best for personal use
Free Free
Key Features:
60MB Storage
Unlimited Tasks
Unlimited Free Plan Members
unlimited
Best for small teams
$7 $10
Everything in Free Forever plus:
2GB Storage per user
Unlimited Folders and Spaces
Unlimited Integrations
business
Best for mid-sized teams
$12 $19
Everything in Unlimited, plus:
Google SSO
Unlimited Storage
Unlimited Teams
enterprise
Best for many large teams
Get a custom demo and see how ClickUp aligns with your goals.
Everything in Business, plus:
White Labeling
Conditional Logic in Forms
Team Sharing for Spaces
* Prices when billed annually
The world's most complete work AI, starting at $9 per month
ClickUp Brain is a no Brainer. One AI to manage your work, at a fraction of the cost.
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (10,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,400+ reviews)
Do I recommend ClickUp?
Yes. If you need a scalable, all-in-one work hub with task and knowledge management plus generative and agentic AI capabilities, ClickUp is the top choice. Since it has all your work context, ClickUp’s AI unlocks compounding gains. It gets progressively smarter as you use it and more tailored to the way you work!
📮 ClickUp Insight: 62% of our respondents rely on conversational AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Their familiar chatbot interface and versatile abilities—to generate content, analyze data, and more—could be why they’re so popular across diverse roles and industries.
However, if a user has to switch to another tab to ask the AI a question every time, the associated toggle tax and context-switching costs add up over time.
Not with ClickUp Brain, though. It lives right in your Workspace, knows what you’re working on, can understand plain text prompts, and gives you answers that are highly relevant to your tasks! Experience 2x improvement in productivity with ClickUp!
📚 Also Read: ClickUp Alternatives
2. Google Gemini (Best for AI-powered workflow automation and content generation)
Google Gemini works like an extra set of hands inside Google Workspace, handling the busy work so you don’t have to.
One of Gemini’s advantages is its deep integration with Google’s ecosystem. If you already use Gmail, Calendar, or Drive, Gemini seamlessly fits into your workflow and leverages real-time data access to create or write, summarize and highlight, and even share suggestions about your work.
Need to extract action items from a long email thread? Gemini can summarize it for you. Want a quick project timeline? It can generate a structured table in Sheets and outline the project’s key features.
Ideal for
Team size
Individuals, freelancers, and small teams experimenting with AI
Who is Gemini a good fit for?
Best for teams already using Google Workspace and needing fast drafting or summarization inside Docs, Gmail, or Sheets; also fits developers using Gemini Pro in AI apps via Vertex AI
Features
- Generate task lists, project reports, and summaries in Google Docs, reducing manual work
- Automate email responses and action items in Gmail to keep projects moving
- Extract insights from long email chains and turn them into organized to-do lists
- Create custom visuals in Slides using AI-powered text-to-image generation
- Enhance risk assessment and forecasting by analyzing data trends in Sheets
Pros
- Solid contextual understanding for optimized responses
- Multimodality—work with text, code, audio, image, and video formats in one app
Cons
- Gemini’s advanced AI features require a Google Workspace subscription
- Works best within Google’s ecosystem, with limited integrations for non-Google apps
- Lacks role-specific AI customization compared to some competitors
Pricing
- Free
- Gemini Advanced: $24/month per user
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (230+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Gemini?
If your team is already deep in Google tools, Gemini can be a great assistant.
3. Perplexity AI (Best for AI-powered search and research insights)
Traditional search engines often require users to sift through multiple links to find reliable information. Perplexity AI changes that by acting as an AI-powered research assistant that delivers instant, well-cited responses.
Moreover, unlike standard search engines, Perplexity AI pulls from multiple sources in real time, summarizes key insights, and even refines results through follow-up questions.
Ideal for
Team size
Individuals, researchers, or small research-focused teams
Who is Perplexity AI a good fit for?
- Great for researchers or analysts who need real-time citations and summarized insights
- Ideal for journalists, students, and policy teams doing deep exploratory work
- Useful for those replacing traditional search with AI Q&A
Features
- Get AI-powered search results with source citations for transparency
- Access multiple LLMs, including GPT-4, Claude 3, and its own models
- Ensure real time data retrieval of the latest information
- Enable deep research with Pro Search, which refines answers with follow-ups
- Organize searches into collections, making it easier to save and categorize insights
Pros
- Queries the web in multiple languages using advanced natural language processing (NLP)
- User-friendly interface that addresses informational needs via simple Q&A
- Suggests smart follow-up questions to plug knowledge gaps
Cons
- Struggles with less-documented topics, occasionally providing surface-level information
- Lacks advanced customization features found in some AI research tools
- Pro Search and access to premium LLMs require a paid subscription
Pricing
- Free
- Pro: $20/month per user
- Enterprise Pro: $40/month per user
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (40+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Perplexity AI?
Yes. For deep research and real-time web-backed answers, Perplexity’s AI platform shines—but remember, it’s not a task or project management tool.
📚 Also Read: Perplexity AI Alternatives
4. ChatGPT (Best for AI-driven project assistance and automation)
It’s almost a given that you are familiar with ChatGPT. It’s one of the most versatile DeepSeek alternatives that lets you write, research, brainstorm, automate tasks, and analyze data with AI.
Unlike DeepSeek, which is more developer-focused and open-source-oriented, ChatGPT offers out-of-the-box usability with powerful models like GPT-4 and custom GPTs that act as virtual project, writing, and coding assistants.
Its Pro plan adds web browsing, file analysis, and image generation, making it a practical choice for marketers, product teams, and content creators who want fast, high-quality output without needing to host or fine-tune models themselves.
🍪 Bonus: ChatGPT’s ability to integrate with various business tools further makes it a valuable asset for corporate teams looking to improve efficiency.
Ideal for
Team size
Individuals to enterprise teams across functions
Who is ChatGPT a good fit for?
Best for generalist knowledge workers, content creators, and teams using AI to write, code, summarize, and brainstorm
Features
- Automate project planning by generating task lists, schedules, and risk assessments based on context
- Get instant answers and insights from web searches, reducing dependency on manual research
- Upload and summarize reports and meeting notes, improving knowledge sharing within teams
- Access predictive analytics to anticipate project risks
Pros
- Go from idea to execution faster with ChatGPT’s intelligent suggestions and recommendations—for household chores, work projects, and everything else in between
- Ask for citations to ensure that the answers you get are trustworthy
Cons
- Can’t perform actions or automate tasks end-to-end like an AI agent
- Struggles with handling highly specific, industry-tailored project needs
- Accuracy of output depends on input quality, sometimes requiring piecemeal instructions and manual verification
Pricing
- Free
- Plus: $20/month (one user)
- Pro: $200/month (one user)
- Team: $30/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (810+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (200+ reviews)
Do I recommend ChatGPT?
Yes. As a flexible, powerful LLM assistant that integrates with business tools and supports plugin/extensions, ChatGPT is highly recommended.
🧠 Fun Fact: In 2016, DeepMind’s AlphaGo program, based on a deep neural network, beat Lee Sedol, the world Go champion, in five games.
📚 Also Read: We Tested the Best ChatGPT Alternatives
5. Meta LLaMa 3 (Best for open-source AI development and experimentation)
For businesses and developers looking for a customizable AI model without vendor lock-in, Meta Llama 3 offers a strong open-source alternative.
Unlike proprietary models like GPT-4 or Claude, Llama 3 allows organizations to fine-tune and deploy AI models on their own infrastructure, ensuring greater control over data privacy and cost.
🍪 Bonus: Its extensive scalability, multilingual potential, and integration with platforms like AWS, Azure, and Hugging Face make it a flexible choice for AI-driven projects.
Ideal for
Team size
Research labs, AI-first startups, or enterprises with in-house ML expertise
Who is Meta LLaMa 3 a good fit for?
- Suitable for developers or research teams building custom AI applications
- Ideal for orgs seeking an open-weight LLM for private deployment
- Not beginner-friendly—requires infrastructure and model fine-tuning experience
Features
- Enable customization and fine-tuning with open-source availability for businesses
- Enhance reasoning, coding, and instruction-following tasks with strong performance in multiple programming languages
- Access multimodal capabilities, including vision-based AI models
- Optimize efficiency with grouped query attention (GQA) and token compression
- Ensure flexible and scalable deployment on major cloud platforms
Pros
- Trained on a vast context of 8B to 70B parameters
- Lower costs compared to OpenAI and Anthropic models
- Reliable, high-speed performance
Cons
- Lacks native support for real-time chat applications compared to closed-source models
- Requires technical expertise to fine-tune and deploy effectively
- Places the burden of responsible use on you
- Still catching up to proprietary models in handling nuanced queries
Pricing
- Custom pricing
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (140+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Meta Llama 3?
Unless you have infrastructure and ML talent, LLaMA 3 isn’t practical as a Drop-in AI assistant like ClickUp Brain or ChatGPT.
📚 Also Read: Meta AI Alternatives
🧠 Fun Fact: In 1980, John Searle explained the division between ‘’weak’’ and ‘’strong’’ AI. Weak AI focuses on one narrow task, while strong AI is similar to full human intelligence.
6. Claude AI (Best for programming assistance and idea exploration)
Claude AI, developed by Anthropic, is designed with a strong emphasis on reasoning, safety, and ethical AI use. Unlike many AI models focusing on speed and versatility, Claude excels at logic-heavy tasks, coding assistance, and in-depth philosophical discussions, reflected in its user interactions.
Claude’s ability to handle complex prompts while maintaining a conversational and structured response style makes it a good choice for developers, researchers, and deep thinkers alike.
Ideal for
Team size
Small teams to enterprise-level organizations
Who is Claude AI a good fit for?
- Excellent for legal, compliance, or enterprise teams valuing privacy and long-context memory
- Great for summarizing large documents, legal contracts, or internal knowledge bases
- Best for organizations needing high safety and transparency in AI outputs
Features
- Leverage advanced debugging and code generation with strong programming capabilities
- Handle long documents and multi-turn conversations with a large context window (up to 200,000 words)
- Interpret images and charts with enhanced vision capabilities in newer models
- Minimize biases and harmful outputs with ethical AI alignment based on constitutional principles
- Use the API access for developers to build custom AI-driven applications
Pros
- Detailed, helpful, context-aware responses with rich language
- Thorough analysis and reasoning for coding tasks
- Learns from and adapts to your writing styles
Cons
- The free access version has a limited number of messages per session
- Struggles with specialized domain queries that require deep contextual knowledge
- Cannot perform independent actions to automate tasks
Pricing
- Free
- Pro: $20/month (one user)
- Max: Starts at $100/month per user
- Team: $25/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (50+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (20+ reviews)
Do I recommend Claude AI?
Yes. Claude is a strong option for long-context summarization and thoughtful replies—especially in enterprise and regulated industries.
📚 Also Read: Claude AI Alternatives
7. Qwen 2.5 (Best for cost-effective AI coding and automation)
Developed by Alibaba Cloud, Qwen 2.5 is relatively new in the market but is winning over crowds with its advanced AI model designed for natural language processing, reasoning, and code generation.
This Chinese AI model competes with top-tier models like GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and DeepSeek V3 while maintaining a significantly lower cost per million tokens.
Ideal for
Team size
Individual developers, small AI research teams, or large organizations in APAC
Who is Qwen 2.5 a good fit for?
It’s suitable for enterprises that want to experiment with open models from a regional provider and are looking for LLM sovereignty.
Features
- Indulge in text, images, and audio processing with a 128,000-token context window
- Perform coding tasks with 92.7% accuracy on HumanEval, outperforming GPT-4o and DeepSeek V3
- Fine-tune and integrate it into applications with open-source flexibility
- Get support for 29 languages, including Mandarin, Arabic, and Hindi
Pros
- Cost-efficient, about 10x cheaper than GPT-4o
- Performs well on coding as well as non-coding tasks
Cons
- Closed-source for enterprise versions, limiting third-party customization
- Slightly weaker performance in creative writing compared to Claude’s 3.5 Sonnet
- Performance degradation beyond 100K tokens in highly complex tasks
Pricing
- Free
- API Access: $0.38 per million tokens
- Enterprise Plans: Custom pricing
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Qwen 2.5?
For most global teams, it may not be the best choice. It’s powerful in research, but lacks ease-of-use, accessibility, and real-world integrations outside Alibaba Cloud.
🧠 Fun Fact: The “Portrait of Edmond Belamy” is the first painting created by artificial intelligence (AI) to be auctioned in the art world. The collective created a painting using an AI method called Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), and it was so realistic that it sold for a whopping $432,500!
📖 Also Read: We Tried the Best AI Tools for Knowledge Management
8. Elicit AI (Best for AI-powered academic research and literature reviews)
Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant designed to facilitate literature reviews and automate tedious academic research tasks.
With access to a database of over 125 million research papers, it helps users find relevant studies, extract key insights, and synthesize findings. This makes it particularly valuable for systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and hypothesis generation.
Ideal for
Team size
Individual academic researchers, policy think tanks, and PhD students
Who is Elicit AI a good fit for?
Best for individual researchers or small academic teams for early-stage project exploration or paper writing
Features
- Find relevant papers and get one-sentence summaries with its AI-powered search engine
- Extract key data points from papers and organize them into structured tables
- Generate thematic syntheses across multiple papers to identify research trends
- Upload PDFs and receive automated summaries and insights
- Access systematic review workflows, supporting academic and professional research
Pros
- Distill relevant research information precisely
- Save hours on literature review
Cons
- You can’t revisit starred papers and reports
- Abstract summaries may oversimplify complex research findings
- Data extraction may not always prioritize the most relevant details
- Limited mobile support, making it less accessible for researchers on the go
Pricing
- Basic: Free
- Plus: $12/month per user
- Pro: $49/month per user
- Team: $79/month per user
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Elicit AI?
Yes—for researchers only. It’s a niche tool purpose-built for academic use, not for general productivity or team workflows.
📖 Also Read: Free Knowledge Base Templates in Word & ClickUp
9. Hugging Face Transformers (Best for machine learning and NLP model deployment)
Hugging Face has become the GitHub of machine learning, providing an open-source platform where developers and researchers can easily share, fine-tune, and deploy natural language processing (NLP) models.
The cool part is that it hosts over a million models and datasets, making it a go-to resource for AI enthusiasts and professionals looking for state-of-the-art pre-trained models.
Ideal for
Team size
Small to mid-sized developer teams, research labs, and AI product builders who are deploying models in production or training custom LLMs
Who is Hugging Face a good fit for?
It’s perfect for startups building AI-native products with open-source foundation models, but not suitable for no-code or non-technical teams.
Features
- Access a vast collection of pre-trained models, including GPT, BERT, and RoBERTa
- Access the Transformers library for seamless NLP model implementation in PyTorch, TensorFlow, and JAX
- Leverage fine-tuning capabilities to adapt models to specific use cases
- Enable easy access to datasets and the ability to showcase AI models in interactive applications
- Use Inference Endpoints for deploying models on scalable cloud infrastructure
Pros
- Built for ML engineers with robust APIs, libraries like
transformers,datasets, andaccelerate, and support for custom training or fine-tuning - Backed by a vibrant global community contributing models, datasets, and research—making experimentation faster and more collaborative
Cons
- Documentation and API design can be complex for beginners navigating model configurations
- Some features require paid plans, particularly for high-performance GPU access
- Lacks strong AI content detection accuracy compared to specialized tools like Originality.AI
Pricing
- Free
- Pro: $9/month per user
- Enterprise: Starting at $20/month per user
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Hugging Face?
Not for general users. It’s an incredible developer ecosystem—but too technical for teams looking for out-of-the-box productivity tools.
10. Mistral AI (Best for building custom AI apps with open-weight models)
Mistral AI is a great DeepSeek alternative if you want full control over how your AI runs. It gives you access to fast, open-weight models like Mistral-7B and Mixtral that you can deploy locally—no black boxes, no vendor lock-in.
If you’re building custom AI apps or care about speed and privacy, Mistral gives you the tools to do that. Just a heads-up: it’s not beginner-friendly. You’ll need some engineering firepower to set things up and keep things running smoothly.
Ideal for
Team size
AI researchers, infrastructure teams, and privacy-conscious enterprises
Who is Mistral AI a good fit for?
- Ideal for companies looking to run lightweight, open-weight models on private infra
- Best for use cases needing local inference, speed, and control over IP
- A strong fit for edge deployments and secure AI workflows
Features
- Run lightweight models locally (e.g., Mistral-7B, Mixtral)
- Deploy fast inference with minimal infrastructure
- Build secure, self-hosted AI applications
- Use permissive licensing for commercial projects
Pros
- Mistral’s Le Chat is reported to be faster and cheaper than mainstream AI tools like ChatGPT
- State-of-the-art open-weight models
- Agentic AI capabilities
Cons
- Limited documentation and community
Pricing (Le Chat AI Assistant)
- Free
- Pro: $14.99/month
- Team: $50 (for 2 users/month)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Mistral AI?
Only if you’re building with it. It’s not built for non-technical users or general knowledge work—unlike tools such as ClickUp Brain or Claude.
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11. Poe (Best for experimenting with multiple LLMs)
Poe by Quora is perfect if you want to play with different AI models in one spot—without switching tabs or setting up anything technical. You can chat with GPT-4, Claude, LLaMA, and more, all in a clean, easy-to-use interface. It’s great for exploring ideas, writing drafts, or just seeing how different models respond. You can even build your own bots.
But if you’re managing team workflows or need something business-grade, Poe might feel a little lightweight. Think of it more like an AI sandbox than a serious work tool.
Ideal for
Team size
Individuals, solopreneurs, and casual AI users
Who is Poe a good fit for?
- Great for people who want to try multiple AI models (GPT-4, Claude, etc.) in one interface
- Useful for content creators or hobbyists experimenting with LLM outputs
Features
- Chat with GPT-4, Claude, LLaMA, and more in one interface
- Create your own bots with specific instructions
- Access AI on web and mobile with synced history
- Experiment with prompts across models
Pros
- Multilingual support
- Fast and reliable mobile app
Cons
- The credit system can be more expensive than using individual models
- Some users report it to be slow
Pricing
- Free plan available
- Starts at $4.99/month
G2 and Capterra reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Do I recommend Poe?
While it’s fun to play with, Poe may lack the structure, security, and features for team-based productivity.
📖 Also Read: Managing paperwork shouldn’t take over your workweek. The right document management software can streamline organization, approvals, and collaboration—here’s how to find the best one!
Summarize this article for me pleaseFinal Verdict: DeepSeek-ing a Better Option? ClickUp’s Happy to Help
Remember when we talked about ClickUp Brain and how all you have to do is ask a question, and it just knows exactly what you need?
Well, Mike Coon, Program Manager at DISH Network, can vouch for that:
But that’s just another day in ClickUp’s world—where AI and automation isn’t just a feature, it’s integrated seamlessly into work.
Once you are on board ClickUp, it becomes your team’s central brain. It automates tasks, manages knowledge, centralizes search, and keeps projects moving without constant back-and-forth.
So, ready to swap confusion for clarity? Sign up on ClickUp today!
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
